Flame rating: 4 flames- Stories have frequent love scenes that are explicit and described using graphic and direct language.

Another hot guy from Greenwich Village is about to meet his match. That is, if he doesn’t mess things up…this time.

After the failure of his relationship with Jeremy, Andrew Jamieson threw himself into the routine of his high powered job on Wall Street. After two years, however, he is unable to quell the longing in his heart, a place Jeremy once filled. That is, until he meets Peter, the local bartender in Jeremy’s favorite watering hole. Peter is hot, sweet, sensitive and…masterful. He brings out a side of Andrew he never knew he had and he can’t get enough. However, when the same issues arise that caused his relationship to fail with Jeremy, Andrew fears he’s destined to ruin his chances with Peter. Will Andrew love Peter enough to let himself have the one guy in the world who could be meant for him?

Excerpt:

Chapter One

Andrew Jamieson pressed the handles of the weight machine away from his body, the strain on his muscles a welcome distraction from the day’s aggravation. Two promotions, managing an entire section of Goldman Sachs trading division, and paychecks to support the lifestyle of a king meant nothing. What good were they if none of them it could fill the void which settled in his heart after his split from Jeremy?

He’d spent two years pouring himself into work and into working out. Still, no amount of money and no extra definition to his already toned body could erase the fact he was alone. Well, maybe not alone since he had friends, but most definitely lonely. He’d taken his eight years with Jeremy for granted, pushing his own wants and needs on the man.

The truth they’d both been hiding from became too much to ignore when Craig, Jeremy’s childhood friend, came back into the picture. They’d wanted different things. At least Andrew kept telling himself they did. Otherwise he’d have to admit he’d fucked up the best thing in his life. And for what? A killer condo overlooking Central Park?

Counting out the final reps, Andrew focused on the muscle burn. It was easy enough to concentrate on the tremor in his bicep when he curled a weight or the creases of his stomach with each crunch, but having the arms of a Greek god was no use when there was no one to hold in his embrace. Washboard abs meant nothing if he couldn’t spoon a warm body against his skin.

He shut out the self-pitying thoughts, wiped down the seat of the weight machine and headed to the locker room. He made quick work of undressing and slipped an altogether too small towel around his waist. There were perhaps seven or eight guys changing and they made no effort to hide their sidelong glances at his powerful physique. Even the admiration of others, many of whom were impressively built, couldn’t lift his sense of isolation.

After a quick shower, he considered a long sit in the steam room and perhaps fifteen minutes in the sauna, areas renowned for locker room hook ups. He’d sworn off those after the first few months of being single. Instead of boosting his ego, the anonymous encounters only served to remind him what he’d had and lost.

Slipping into his regular clothing, Andrew ignored the several men assaulting him with their eyes, and worked his way out of the gym and to the street. The chill of late winter still carried on the air, but the promise of spring lingered beneath the vestiges of cold.

Birds chirped and the trees had begun to sprout buds. People had replaced woolen coats and scarves with lighter jackets. Several food vendors were set up along the sidewalks and the familiar smell of falafel and roasting franks wafted through the air. All signs of warmer weather and new beginnings.

But nothing seemed new. Trudging down Fifty-Ninth Street, the southern border of Central Park, toward his luxury apartment, he couldn’t help but resent the couples wandering along, hand in hand.

A young couple, about his age, stood at the entrance to the park holding one another in an embrace. The man leaned in and placed a tender kiss on the woman’s lips. When he’d initially found this place, he’d hoped he and Jeremy could take such strolls, simply enjoying each other’s company, or heading a few blocks West to Madison Avenue where they purchased a hi-def television or perhaps a Bluetooth surround system. Andrew found solitary use of the equipment far less enjoyable than he’d imagined.

To make matters worse, Jeremy finding everything he wanted in Craig only intensified Andrew’s sense of disconnectedness, a constant companion lately. As if reading his mind, his phone buzzed, Jeremy’s name emblazoned on the screen.

The typical responses of excitement and regret filled him each time Jeremy called, in that order. He pressed ‘Accept’ and brought the phone to his ear. “Hey you.” He mustered as much cheerfulness as he could and still sounded depressed.

“What’s wrong?” Jeremy’s concern was tangible. Yet he wasn’t there to sling an arm over Andrew’s shoulder or pull him into a comforting hug. No warmth, only the chill air of late winter.

“Nothing. Just worked out and I’m a little sore.” His lie probably fell on all too knowing ears, but he refused to wallow in his own misery.

“Oh. Okay.” Jeremy maintained a chipper bounce to his tone, although it didn’t fool Andrew. “We still on for dinner tonight?”

Shit. I totally forgot about that. He and Jeremy had managed to remain friends despite the circumstances breaking them apart. He liked Craig, but seeing the two of them together was still difficult. “Uh. I—”

“Don’t even! I’ve been slaving away in the kitchen for the past two hours.” The chastising tone helped to thaw some of the ice surrounding Andrew’s heart, even though the familiarity broke it just a bit more. “Besides, I haven’t seen you in two weeks.”

“Fine. Is there anything I can bring?”

“Just yourself.” A brief silence interrupted Jeremy’s usual talkative nature. The pause was long enough for the hairs on Andrew’s arms to stand on end. “We invited Pete over too.”

There it was. Another one of Jeremy’s dinners, code for hookup. Andrew dropped his head so his chin rested on his chest and he came to a dead halt in the middle of the sidewalk. “Jeremy. If you’re trying to—”

“I’m not trying to do anything, but you’ve been a working machine for the last two years. It’s not like you to cut yourself off from people. You deserve to find someone. I worry about you.”

Affection spread through Andrew like fingers of warmth comforting him from within. For eight years he’d come home to Jeremy’s nurturing. And for most of those years, they’d been happy. Until Andrew’s career took off. Once that happened, Andrew’d wanted more for the two of them. He’d pressured Jeremy about his choice of career and his complacency. He’d viewed Jeremy as unmotivated and thought it was his job to push the man to achieve his full potential. Yet Jeremy was still teaching, still making a pitiful salary, still living in the East Village in a small apartment, and still happier than Andrew had ever seen him.

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